Jacques Peyrat is once again a candidate for re-election, what are your feelings about this?
It’s no surprise to anyone. And during this period, he can still express his wish… Will he be supported by the UMP? My feeling is that this matter is far from settled. Everyone dreams of facing Peyrat – who should not be underestimated – but today’s political reality is a great uncertainty.
Will you be one of his opponents in the upcoming municipal elections?
Yes, if the socialist militants designate me to lead this fight. There is an unbreakable rule among socialists: find the candidate who best unites the socialists, then the left, and in the specific case of municipal elections, the one who is best able to create momentum in the city. There are no self-proclaimed candidates, including myself. Imagine François Hollande or Laurent Fabius proclaiming themselves as candidates for the socialists before any nomination vote.
If yes, what are the main outlines of your project for the city of Nice?
I envision a city that embraces and carries forward a project focused on the city’s attraction, quality of life, and the fight against social insecurity.
Five pillars:
– Housing: it’s priority number one
– Build different and numerous social housing to relieve the market in the private sector. Nowadays, no one can afford housing in Nice, be it working-class or middle-class people.
– Implement a very active policy of social diversity
– Upgrade current social housing (maintenance, green spaces, security)
– Economic development:
Given the number of unemployed and the increasing impoverishment of a portion of the population, it’s crucial to halt the city’s decline by:
– Putting its economic development back on the agenda,
– Promoting job creation in connection with the CANCA.
– Focusing on sectors: reviving business tourism, audiovisual, biotechnologies
– Proximity:
– Build the necessary local public facilities:
– Daycare centers to facilitate the return to work for young people
– School and extracurricular facilities to combat the digital divide
– Community centers
– Local cultural and sports facilities
– Citizenship through participative democracy at all levels:
– Decentralize and bring municipal administrative services closer to citizens, making the grand project of a new town hall unnecessary.
– For large facilities
– For local facilities
– For their daily operation
– Public transportation:
– The East-West tramway line because consistency is necessary. We can’t reject a second bypass highway if we don’t build the necessary public transport.
– An increased role for the Chemins de Fer de Provence in connection with the region that currently leads the SYMA.
What do you think will be the other candidates in this election?
If Peyrat is a candidate, there are always potential dissidents on the right, with the goal of bringing him down this time. But the road is still long until 2008… for everyone.
On the left, the risk of division is not negligible. For the moment, I see three possible lists: one from united left, one from JC Picard, and one from J. Ciccolini. But there is still time to unite. Whoever is designated will be judged on that basis.
Do you not think that a grouping of forces is a good solution for the left in the next Nice election?
Of course, it’s preferable, and I just highlighted its importance. The united left would see its chances strengthened thanks to momentum from the first round. Look at what happened in the regional elections in 2004. I managed to unite most of the leftist forces, including Joseph Ciccolini. The results were immediately apparent. The splinter list collapsed because the endorsement brought by J. Ciccolini holds a lot of weight in Nice.
As a result, we achieved more than 33% in the first round and 45% in the second round. It was the first time since the liberation that a leftist list outperformed the right in Nice by a clear margin (3500 votes). Lessons must be drawn from this. In the cantonal elections, the left benefits from divisions and poor vote transfers on the right. For the municipal elections, as was the case for the regional elections, we will have to rely only on ourselves. It’s our best guarantee.
Can you introduce the main members of your team?
The team is being formed. It is open to all incumbents, of course. Some are already working with me. Others have let me know that they will be available when the time comes. I am not rushing things; there is still time ahead. But there are two very comforting parameters:
– The mobilization of socialist militants around the approach I have taken. This was a decisive factor in the vote of the first Federal Secretary, since I apparently rallied beyond just the Hollande motion. Mathematically, I should have lost. And some did not spare their efforts to weaken me, specifically in light of the municipal election.
– The way dozens of representatives from civil society are mobilizing alongside elected officials and militants to participate in reflection groups we have formed, without asking for anything afterwards, just for the pleasure of participating in a great collective adventure and writing together a page of the history of Nice.
If you were to play the soothsayer, what would be the trio of a possible second round and who would be the winner?
I don’t like playing the soothsayer. But nothing indicates that this time we will have a three-way race (left, UMP, FN). That would be idyllic, too easy. We must not mistake the battle; the political landscape is evolving.
1st element: dissent on the right. Everything will depend on Estrosi’s will. He is strong enough today to limit it to Rudy Salles. If Jean Icart, who has now well integrated into the departmental majority, is a candidate, it will be the signal that Estrosi has dropped Peyrat. This is not yet the case today.
2nd element: dissent on the left. It is a major concern. J. Ciccolini does not have to put together a list 3 weeks before, as was the case last time. He can approach it differently.
3rd element: the FN. It had barely made 14% last time, with a significant lead candidate: MF Stirbois. It has been declining in local elections since then and no longer has any iconic figure. We must also not underestimate Peyrat’s ability to erode the electorate from his former house. No one believes it, but the FN missing the second round seems like a plausible hypothesis. Especially as the FN’s post-presidential succession war will not be pretty.
What is your wish on the evening of the 2008 municipal elections?
To lift the lid that has been on the city for ten years. And above all, to restore to the people of Nice the pride of being from here to mobilize them on a project that will bring Nice into the 21st century… albeit a little late.
